The NIHR School for Social Care Research is inviting applications for the latest round of their Career Development Awards.
This funding provides awards of £20,000 to £75,000 for individuals to undertake personalised training activities and advance their professional development in social care research.
Deadline for applications: 5pm Thursday 25th September 2025.
Key information
- We’re inviting applications from anyone committed to building their careers in social care research. This includes practitioners, researchers at any career stage, and people working in an aligned sector or discipline who want to move into this area of research.
- This award will fund personalised training and development activities to support an applicant in furthering their social care research career.
- This funding can cover salary buy-out, training and development costs, and direct costs associated with carrying out your development activities, such as travel for networking or small-scale research activities.
- Applicants should demonstrate fit with the remit of the SSCR Programme and show evidence of engaging with our thematic priorities.
- We are hosting a webinar and Q and A on 2nd July, followed by two separate webinars for early career researchers and practitioners. Register via Eventbrite.
- Contact sscr-training@york.ac.uk with any questions or see our frequently asked questions below.
Award guidance
Please read the guidance below and complete all application documents in full before submitting your application.
Download this guidance as a .pdf
The NIHR School for Social Care Research (SSCR) is dedicated to improving the evidence base of social care practice in England, and has been granted £6m to implement and conduct capacity-building activities 2024 to 2029.
Social care is vital for preserving independence, enhancing the quality of life, wellbeing, and end of life care, but it remains under-supported by evidence and the infrastructure to produce and implement that evidence. Building an affordable, high-quality, and sustainable adult social care system that meets people’s needs requires a strong evidence base to understand what works best, for whom and when.
We aim to attract and invest in a diverse cohort of early, mid, and senior social care researchers with the skills to develop and lead social care research in academic and practice settings in the future. Individuals who are committed to their continued career development and to improving the evidence base of social care research in England are invited to apply.
We encourage you to apply if:
- You are already working in social care research, education or practice at any career stage.
- You have research expertise in an aligned sector, topic area or discipline and want to bring your skills and experience into the social care research field.
- You work in social care and have limited research experience and skills that you wish to develop.
- You work in social care research and wish to strengthen your research skills further.
This opportunity is open to a wide range of people because we know that career trajectories in social care research vary from individual to individual. We want to support pathways that develop existing social care researchers, and support moves between practice and academic settings, and and moves between disciplines. Applicants are invited to describe and justify the most pertinent pathway for them.
We are committed to equipping practitioners and researchers with the skills and experience to build a strong, sustainable career in social care research. An SSCR Career Development Award is a unique opportunity to support valuable career development activities to assist you to move to the next stage of your career in social care research.
Underpinning every award is support delivered by the SCCR’s dedicated research Capacity Building Team, including mentoring, group training and events, and links with a peer support network of Career Development Awardees and alumni. If successful, you may also become a member of NIHR Academy.
The award will fund:
- Salary buy-out.
- Training costs, including Masters fees.
- Direct costs associated with network building or small-scale project work with clear links to training and development objectives.
We want to support applications that show a clear commitment to establishing or consolidating a long-term career in social care-related research or as a practitioner-researcher. We expect that successful applicants will have clearly outlined:
- Their career development objectives.
- The training and activities they plan to complete during their award.
- The anticipated award outcomes.
- How this funding will help them take the next step in their career.
Applicants should also demonstrate fit with the remit of the SSCR Programme and show evidence of engaging with our thematic priorities.
Watch our informational video about our Career Development Awards, which covers the types of activity we fund, who can apply and our top tips for a strong application.
Successful award holders will be required to:
- Complete a detailed training and development plan within four months of the award start date.
- Engage with the School’s cohort of award holders and alumni.
- Contribute to the School’s Programme of career development (i.e. writing a blog, speaking at an event, mentoring an SSCR PhD student)
- Attend the annual SSCR Conference and present, at minimum, a poster of their work.
- Attend the annual SSCR Trainee Conference, which brings together current and past career development award holders, SSCR-funded PhD students and Research Trainees.
The costs for attending both the SSCR trainee and annual conferences should be included in the costings in your proposal.
Other deliverables outlined in proposals will be reflected in individual Award Letters. Awards will be monitored annually at minimum but monitoring will be adapted to award aims and length.
The SSCR Programme expects to commission a range of applications and applicants can apply for awards between £20,000 – £75,000.
All applications will be expected to demonstrate value for money, be fully justified and the requested value of the award should be proportional to the planned activity. On review of applications, the SSCR Review Panel may query or reject costs that are insufficiently justified. Applications should therefore include a thorough, realistic and accurate costing of proposed activities.
Staff and non-staff costs will be funded at 100%, with an overhead rate of 30% applied to staff costs at Higher Education Institutions. Eligible costs include funding for the applicant’s salary, training (formal or short) courses and events, and direct costs linked to the Career Development Award (ie. travel and subsistence to relevant UK conferences or network building visits).
The Programme does not fund supervision costs. The Programme will also not fund international travel or international conference attendance, except in very exceptional circumstances and accompanied by a sufficiently robust rationale.
Please cost your application using the costing template provided. A full justification of resources is required as part of the application.
Career Development Awards are expected to start in early-2026, no later than 1st May, and should usually last for between 12-24 months (with flexibility in exceptional circumstances).
Applicants should aim to complete their awards within this timeframe, but the SSCR will accept proposals that are shorter than 12 months where there is strong rationale to support this. Regardless of duration, the length of time for each award should reflect the nature of the career development plans and be fully justified.
Applications that will not start by 1st May should apply for the next call (to launch in 2026).
A contract of employment
All applicants must have a contract of employment with an organisation which is able to act as host for the award for the duration of the award. Pre- doctoral applications are welcome. PhD students are eligible to apply if they have submitted their thesis and have an employment contract with the host organisation for the duration of the CDA.
Strong academic support
Applicants are required to name a career development supporter who will support them during their award.
It is expected that this individual will have a strong and reputable academic background in social care research; a supporter may or may not have existing links with the SSCR, however we encourage all applicants to explore future relationships within the SSCR core membership within their award if they do not have current links. Applications without named academic support will not be progressed to panel.
Existing links with SSCR or CDA funding
Applications from individuals already closely aligned with the SSCR (ie. in a member organisation and working in social care research) will need to clearly identify which internal funding routes they have already explored for their proposed activity and why a CDA is the most appropriate opportunity.
Similarly, applicants who have previously received CDA funding will need to include sufficient rationale for a further award. A strong justification for accessing SSCR resources is required and will be factored into decision making during the review of applications.
- Step 1: Applicants work collaboratively with supervisors/mentors in social care research, practice and public partners to develop and complete the application form.
- Step 2: Applications and supporting documents are cross-referenced against the call guidance and those out of scope will not be passed to the panel.
- Step 3: Completed proposal applications are reviewed, ranked and prioritized by the SSCR review panel. A small number of awards will be selected for funding and successful applicants will be informed. Unsuccessful applications will receive feedback.
- Step 4: Award letters will be issued and contract arrangements begin, with successful Social Care Career Development Awards to start no later than 1st May 2026.
Applications will be reviewed using the following criteria in bold:
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- A strong applicant research and/or practice profile, with clear proposed alignment to the remit of the NIHR SSCR Programme. The application should demonstrate:
- Evidence of a strong professional or academic career in social care or a related field.
- Good understanding of the mission of the SSCR and commitment to its primary goal of developing the evidence base of social care research in England.
- Strong consideration of EDI and public and practice involvement in the context of their award.
- A well-rounded case for personal and professional development. This should encompass:
- A strong case for personal development through the award.
- A strong applicant research and/or practice profile, with clear proposed alignment to the remit of the NIHR SSCR Programme. The application should demonstrate:
- A proposal clearly in line with the applicant’s current career stage.
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- A clear training/development plan that is integral to the award.
- A clear endpoint and objectives for the research career development award.
- A longer-term commitment to a research career in social care or related field.
- Strong support and commitment to the applicant’s career development, from both the host organisation and named career development supporter. This should include:
- An academic career supporter who is well-situated in the field of social care research and demonstrates commitment to helping the applicant expand their skills and network further.
- A tangible package of support that is well-thought out and linked to the applicant’s award plans.
- Value for money. This should include:
- Accurate and well thought-out costs.
- A proportionate award value that is clearly linked to the plan of activity and duration of award.
| June 2025 | Call launches. |
| July 2025 | Informational webinars hosted. |
| 5pm Thursday 25th September 2025 | Deadline for applications. |
| October-November 2025 | Review of applications. Expert panel to rank and prioritise for funding. |
| December 2025 | Outcomes communicated and feedback shared with unsuccessful applicants. |
| January-February 2026 | Contracting with host institutions; research agreements will be between the NIHR School for Social Care Research and the host organisation. NIHR SSCR terms and conditions will apply. |
| Early 2026 | Successful Career Development Awards begin. |
How to apply
Please send your completed documents to sscr-training@york.ac.uk before the deadline of 5pm, Thursday 25th September 2025. Application documents must include:
- Application form
- Costings template
- CV (no longer than 4 pages)
- Gantt chart
The application must be endorsed and signed by the applicant, line manager, career development supporter and an administrative/financial authority for the host organisation. Applications that do not include all the supporting documents will be considered incomplete.
We expect to receive more applications than we can fund. Following the review panel, unsuccessful applicants will receive constructive feedback on their proposals within four weeks of the decision, and, where appropriate, information on other sources of funding may be provided.
Applicant Support
We are committed to supporting prospective applicants in a number of ways:
- Prospective applicants who are based in practice, are new to research or are researchers from universities that do not have a substantial track-record of NIHR funding are encouraged to contact the Research Support Service Specialist Centre for Social Care (RSS) delivered by the University of York for advice and guidance about their application and plans. The RSS can provide specialist social care research support for applicants considering applying for a CDA.
- Applicants who wish to explore links with the SSCR research network can view our full membership via the SSCR website. Applicants are also welcome to sscr-training@york.ac.uk with a brief outline of your proposed award and we will do our best to link you up with an appropriate member from the School.
- Find out more about the CDA scheme and ask questions at one or more of our online events. Upcoming events include:
Visit funding web page
(https://sscr.nihr.ac.uk/career-development/social-care-research-career-opportunities/career-development-awards-round-two/)
